What do you think of the pain of labour after giving birth?

[WhatIsPink]

Ive just had my third child, labour was wild and as anyone who’s been through it knows the pain. I was lucky to be fast and furious with very short active labour but quite a few stitches.

Every time I was surprised that I was doing it again, especially when I am in active labour , as it was not traumatised enough enough, however I seem to forget what happened last time and only see that beautiful child.

Just an after delivery though and what’s on your mind after all that painful delivery?

That's nature. We're supposed to forget so we do it again. Its how we've developed. Well...maybe not me...but yeah.

I had one child, that was enough labour for me. When people commented "ooh, when are you going to have another/give her a sibling" etc, I shut that shit right down.
I suffered pain for 12 years.
Got a dog! Mumof1andacat we're not dissimilar!

Didn’t forget, still went ahead and had another. Done now

I remember vividly lying in the bath after DC1 shook thinking I can’t do that again and trying to work out how on earth I was going to give him a sibling. But that feeling just faded, really quickly. Up until labour with DC2 it was like it all came crashing back to me, I remembered exactly what it felt like and was really scared! Thankfully it was very quick.

I’m from peasant stock so both of my labours were fine. I had an electric device on my back but that was it.

I remembered the pain really well and made sure I had the epidural in asap after the first time.

My labour was induced, fast and furious....and yes, it bloody hurts.😥

Like others mentioned, I too only have one child, not because the pain put me off, but because he was hyperactive and hardly slept for the first almost 4 years of his life. My husband worked nights, and I was so drained when I finally did get back into a routine, I couldn't be bothered starting all that palaver again.

I had my first without any anaesthetic at all and I have to say that I enjoyed giving birth (well not the pain, but it wasn’t too bad). Had the second with no anaesthetic and even less pain. My mother said she knew a woman who had 9 children and every time she went into labour she wanted to jump out of a window. We are made to give birth and to forget the pain as well as the midnight feeds etc.

I had a lovely water birth with ds2! A bit of gas and air and it hurt when I tore when came out but honestly it was amazing! I had a very long labour with ds1 and was sick off the diamorphine and just exhausted…

I didn’t enjoy it but it was fine tbh, intensely uncomfortable rather than painful, and mercifully relatively short both times (6hrs and about 2hrs maybe). Would do labour again no problem, just can’t face another newborn period 😴

I've had 3 dcs and never experienced pain in labour. Epidural with vaginal birth for one and elcs for the other 2. No instruments needed or other interventions, really straightforward and quickly discharged.
Too old now to be worried about doing it again.

I’ll be honest, birth wasn’t the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced. My periods were way worse and I had that every month.

I've had 2 B2B, one with no pain relief. What helped me was when I had nr 2 i was put on a known midwife scheme, so even though it was physically more traumatic, it was psychologically less so. I felt listened to.

What I found odd was how quickly the pain went away. I thought I was dying, pushed baby out and the felt tired but fine.

My was back to back without pain relief which I think is why I felt like dying 😆

It’s strange thing, I vividly remember the pain straight after, went on to have another, forgot about the pain until I was in labour when it came absolutely crashing back to me and I ignored early labour hoping it would just not happen 😂

Still get flashbacks now and then about dc1s birth, will be looking at a first car for him this weekend… dc2 was a planned c-section. Far more pleasant experience. (To be fair, it all went a bit wrong when I had dc1, I didn’t have the normal experience and recovering from a c-section with dc2 meant I was back to normal quicker than I was with dc1, aware my experience isn’t normal.)

anyway anyone who’s had a horror story first birth but wants another dc, highly recommend planned c-section, book an appointment to have a baby, all very civilised.

I had the midwife not believing me labour, 9cm on 2 paracetamol, then gas and air. My scream on tearing/blood spurting was blood curdling, almost an out of body experience, as I didn’t know who screamed - it was me. If I had of been fortunate to have had a 2nd I would have insisted on an epidural. Why the fuck do midwifes hate epidurals so much?

Between my first and second I made a friend who really changed my attitude to labour. She looked on it as a kind of personal physical challenge (NOT competitive labour as in oh I did it all naturally with no drugs bla bla bla)... your focus is to keep your head during the pain and do what you need to do, get the job done so to speak. It really changed my thinking - from labour being something dreadful that happened to me, into something during which I had an active role/ work to do., staying more focussed on the purpose than the pain.

I found the worst pain was in my lower back, I really thought my spine was breaking.
The other vivid memory is I was asked if a group of students could come in the delivery room and watch the birth. I heard a loud bang, one of them had fainted.

I was induced and baby was back to back - the pain was horrendous, not just the level of it but the positioning of it. I ripped the IV out unknowingly. Only got to a few cm beforw I begged for the anesthetist, and ended up with an emergency cesarean anyway. Second baby I chose a c section, I’d never want to do it again.

I had 5 and of course it was bloody painful 😖 but I sort of went with it and didn't fight the pain - I just really went into myself and concentrated on breathing and then pushing. I had gas & air mostly and pethedine with a couple of babies as they were induced. Honestly, the after pains with baby no 4 & 5 were worse than labour, as was the tearing and stitches!

Having DC1 was the worst pain I ever experienced. Later in life, I phoned 111 because I was in pain, and they said, “Is it the worst pain you’ve ever had?” “No,” I said, “That would be having my first DC.” “Oh well it’s not gallstones then,” he said. It was.

Two kids no contractions. I read about childbirth pre pregnancy, thought no way and had an elective section both times. They were lovely calm experiences, husband cut the cord and then I cuddled them!

People accused me of being too posh to push and my FIL thought I was ‘barely’ a woman for ‘failing’. I asked him when the last time he’d pushed a baby out of his vagina. Didn’t go down well 🤣

I couldn't handle the pain of my 2nd child's birth (ending up in stirrups with ventouse after 8 hours of pushing) so had an elective c-sec for my 3rd child. That's how much I forgot that level of pain.